The Burgundian Code
The Burgundian Code: Book of Constitutions or Law of Gundobad; Additional Enactments
Translated by KATHERINE FISCHER DREW
Foreword by EDWARD PETERS
Series: The Middle Ages Series
Copyright Date: 1976
Published by: University of Pennsylvania Press
Pages: 128
https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt3fhn4j
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Book Info
The Burgundian Code
Book Description:

"Gives the reader a portrayal of the social institutions of a Germanic people far richer and more exhaustive than any other available source."-from the Foreword, by Edward PetersFrom the bloody clashes of the third and fourth centuries there emerged a society that was neither Roman nor Burgundian, but a compound of both. The Burgundian Code offers historians and anthropologists alike illuminating insights into a crucial period of contact between a developed and a tribal society.

eISBN: 978-0-8122-0178-9
Subjects: History
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  1. Front Matter
    Front Matter (pp. i-iv)
  2. FOREWORD TO THE PENNSYLVANIA PAPERBACK EDITION
    FOREWORD TO THE PENNSYLVANIA PAPERBACK EDITION (pp. v-viii)
    Edward Peters

    The great frontier which divided the inhabitants of the Roman Empire from the Celtic and Germanic peoples who lived beyond their northern provinces consisted not only of forts, frontier settlements, and defense works, but of cultural and institutional differences as well. To the Romans, these people werebarbari, barbarians who did not know the life of the city nor the gifts of literacy. Although Germans often settled within the imperial frontiers, joined the Roman army—eventually coming to command it—and even served the diplomatic interests of the Empire outside its borders by waging war with tribes who were still...

  3. PREFACE
    PREFACE (pp. ix-x)
    Katherine Fischer Drew
  4. Table of Contents
    Table of Contents (pp. xi-xvi)
  5. INTRODUCTION
    INTRODUCTION (pp. 1-14)

    The Burgundians were one of the East Germanic tribes. They first came into contact with the Roman Empire in the third century when they had established themselves just east of the Rhine along the Main River, where they and other groups of barbarians continually threatened the Roman frontier. For over a century longer the Romans were able to prevent the barbarian hordes from overrunning the Empire completely, but by the fifth century internal conditions within the Empire had so weakened it that the frontier gamsons and armies were no longer able or willing to maintain their defenses. In the year...

  6. LIBER CONSTITUTIONURN SIVE LEX GUNDOBADU
    LIBER CONSTITUTIONURN SIVE LEX GUNDOBADU (pp. 17-88)

    1. In the name of God in the second year of the reign of our lord the most glorious king Gundobad, this book concerning laws past and present, and to be preserved throughout all future time, has been issued on the fourth day before the Kalends of April (March 29) at Lyons.²

    2. For the love of justice, through which God is pleased and the power of earthly kingdoms acquired, we have obtained the consent of our counts (comites) and leaders (proceres), and have desired to establish such laws that the integrity and equity of those judging may exclude all...

  7. CONSTITUTIONES EXTRAVAGANTES
    CONSTITUTIONES EXTRAVAGANTES (pp. 91-96)

    1. The complaints of many Burgundians and Romans have come to us stating that their vineyards have been destroyed by animals, pigs, as well as other beasts; after discussing the matter thoroughly with our nobles (obtimates), we have perceived that it is just, and so it seems just to us, that if animals shall be found in a vineyard by anyone, he should have the full power of killing one from the herd of pigs and applying it to his own use.

    2. And if it fittingly pertains to the welfare and peace of all, let a similar condition hold...

  8. BIBLIOGRAPHY
    BIBLIOGRAPHY (pp. 97-102)
  9. INDEX
    INDEX (pp. 103-106)
  10. Back Matter
    Back Matter (pp. 107-110)
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